Panama Launches Inter-Institutional Operation to Recover Escudo de Veraguas Island
Escudo Island in Veraguas is home to unique species, including the three-toed pygmy sloth, the Escudo hummingbird, and the Zamia. It is also an important nesting site for leatherback, green, and hawksbill sea turtles.
The recovery will be carried out with the support of the National Air and Naval Service, the Environmental Police, the Panama Maritime Authority and the Aquatic Resources Authority. The Ministry of Environment (MiAmbiente) announced the start of an environmental intervention in the Isla Escudo de Veraguas-Degó Protected Landscape, after confirming serious ecological damage, including illegal construction, pollution with waste, overexploitation of marine resources and alleged extraction of critically endangered species.
The Ministry of the Environment recently announced the one-year closure of Escudo de Veraguas Island to protect critically endangered ecosystems
Panamanian officials conducted an inspection led by Environment Minister Juan Carlos Navarro, who described the situation as “a disaster,” finding buildings on reefs, illegal extraction of lobster and cambombia—a species protected by CITES—and bad fishing practices, such as the use of chlorine to catch octopuses, which destroys coral and damages the marine ecosystem. In response to the environmental deterioration, MiAmbiente decreed the temporary closure of the island for one year, a measure that had also been requested by local communities in February 2025.
Joint Operation
The recovery will be carried out with the support of the National Air and Naval Service, the Environmental Police, the Panama Maritime Authority and the Aquatic Resources Authority, who will reinforce surveillance to ensure compliance with the closure ordered by Resolution DM-0489-2025. In addition, the Ministry of Social Development and the Panama Tourism Authority will join in, implementing temporary programs aimed at indigenous and Bocas del Toro communities, with training in:
+ Responsible fishing
+ Ecological restoration
+ Community-based ecotourism
The Ministry of the Environment announced the one-year closure of Escudo de Veraguas Island to protect critically endangered ecosystems
“The communities are part of the process and we will talk with them,” said Minister Navarro. In a statement, MiAmbiente detailed that it will carry out a restoration and environmental monitoring plan during the closure period, in order to guarantee the conservation of this protected area, considered by scientists and experts as “the Panamanian Galapagos”.
